Sheet-feeding apparatus for paper-sorting machines



a. SPIE SS. .SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS FOR PAPER SORTING MACHlNESi APPLICATION EILED AUG-8, 1918.

' Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

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r G. SPIESS. SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS FOR PAPER SORTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.5| I918.

Patented Aug. 3,1920,

numfa G. SPIESS.

SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS FOR PAPER SORTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION. FILED Aue.a. I918.

1,348,246. Patented Aug. 3,1920.

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a. SPIESS. SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS FOR PAPER SORTING'MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.8| 1918.

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PATEM: o ls-ice..-

omne si'mss, or LEMIPYZIG-REUDNITZ, Grimm.

SHEET-FEEDING arramrus roa PAPER-SORTING MAcHn T Es.

Speificatifli of Letters Patent.

Original plication filed December 2s,-1915,;serm1 no. 69,047'R and this apnlicatibmfilsd 31 c 1 918. semi No. 249,039. I

T 0 allwhomit may concern:

Be it known that LGEoRG Spun 3, a subjectpof the GermanjEm eror, and residing at Leipzig Reudnitz,-

vented certain new and useful Improvementsin Sheet-Feeding- Apparatus for Paper- SortingMachines, of which the .foL lowing is a specification;

In the known paper-sorting machines the.

paper web winding off :the ,roll is conveyed bynmeansof uide. rollers to the longitudinal cutter and then to the transverse cutten,

The completely cut sheet is ,deliveredyto grippersthat convey it over the inspection section toithe;waste.-heap,ror asfpassedl to the laying-off table, In.- order that the severalv sheets'shall not come iILCOIltflCt-Wlth. each other they have to be moved-along with spaces betweent These pa allow the support on :which. or over -which.

the sheetis sliding, to become visible; This circumstance has adlstu-rbing effect. upon the eye of the inspector, which-.isthereby p rem aturely; tired. c

Further, in the known machines the sheetrv after having been severedby the transverse.

This conveyer cc whichis ordinarily 1 a web. :conveyer,

cutter, fallsonv tov a .conveyer;

acts as a connection between the transverse cutter and the grippers in. order that all the 'throwmg out Short portions of thesaid web sizes of sheet may behandled, and also that the cut sheets maybe securely inserted intov Various circumstances have h owes/er:v an, unfavorable effect upon the coni the, grippers.

voyer that. is composed of numerous separ ratep'zirts, so that it is-a great advantage if L this conveyer can be dispensed with.

7 Theiconveyer mustalso run at, a higher. speed than the gripper mechanlsm in order to allow-time for. straightening the sheet while the conveyer, is continuing its move.

ment; The sudden stoppage, in straightening the sheets,,has the result .more particue- I larly'in the caselof light kinds of paper, of

creased or torn.

the blast, whereby the sheet is lifted oflflattimes from the conveyer and has not time to attach itself properly to the stops. For

ermany, have in-- I Patented Aug. 3,1920

the purposes of inspection the'speedof the proved apparatus wherein the known lateral grippers are employed Wh'ichgrip the sheet the keenness by both of its side edges. This grippingdevice-allows of positioning the transverse,

cutter very close up to the gripping-device,

so that the sheet when gripped bythegrippers can be held mechanically by'them until the sheetsis separated from the web. 'Consequently it is possibl'e to dispense with-the conveyer WhlCh as already above stated, causes a good deal-of waste;

Further, the provision ofthese grippers j in combination with-the hereinafter de' scribed devices, allows of maintaining a V constant or approximately constant speedof' the paper weband of the grippers for the.

different sizes-of sheet.

Whereas in: the known apparatus the-sew eral sheets after'having been out, have been" left: to themselves; in the new apparatus eaoh severed sheet -isnot releasede-from the grip;

pers. because the act-ion of the cutters and the .-closing ofthe-grippers can take'pla'ceatv thefsame oriapproximately 'the same times.

The improved apparatus also-allows in the cassof faults occurringv in -the-web;;of .7

andconveying .themou to the laying off table.

transverse,- cutter to-come/earlier-into op veratiim; than only after the 1 passage- 0f a completefisizeflof,sheets If? faults should The inspector is able to cause the show themselves at the beginning or:at'the-;

end of a size of-sheet, -the/improved apparatus allowslof cutting,ofisandithrowing out the faulty-portion of the sheet; whereashitherto in the case of any 'iault, a the whole sheet in which the said fault occurred hadzto Fig. 3" across section of theimproved apparatus. a

F g; 4-is, a section, and

the accompany FigQ13 a side elevation of an apparatus for varying the speed of the gripper chain.

Fig. 14 shows a detail thereof drawn to a larger scale. 3

Fig. 15 is apartial elevation of a diagrammatic arrangement of anapparatus for allowing .of inspecting the sheet on both sides.

Fig. 16 isa side elevation of an operating mechanism therefor, and 1 7 tion of this apparatus for varyingspeeds.

The .paper. web win'dingkoff the roll a is led over the transverse straightening rollers.

Z to the drawing rollers c. which convey the web to the longitudinal cutter (LIP. After the web has been cut longitudinally, its several constituent webs are conveyed by guide rollers 0 e to the right and leftover an inspection section. to the transverse cutters. Each" inspection sectlon consists of an endless traveling felt web F passing around'the rollers f and f Each sheet to'be severed is gripped on both sides bygrippers 2 2* at the instant of severing, and is conveyed either to the waste heap or to the place where the good sheets are-laid elf. I The grippers 2', Qfare carried by closed chains 1, '1 which paSS Over the chain wheels 3 :andf The grippers are supported by. guides 70. and on which the grippers roll (Fig.

-When the inspector discovers a fault in the paper, he "presses a hand leverl to the" end Z of whiijrh'there is connected a rod m.

The Inotion:iS transmitted to a bell crank" 'leve'r n'iwhich is fulcrumed on'thepin 0 and inrotating causes through .the medium of;

the-rod 1), a rotation, of the bell crank lever -q that. is fulcrumed on the pin g. This movement releases. the roller lever 91 which is pivoted on the pin 8, and which is thereby pressedlby the spring a with its roller 1' against the periphery of the cam disk '6. a When the sheet is situatedabovethe place where the waste is to be deposited, theroller r is pulled by the spring u into a recess of the cam disk t; and thearin r of the roller lever 1* moves down. The rodo transmits the motion to the lever 10 which is fulcrumed on the pin a2. To the lever wthere is connected the rod y "which is attached to the pin .2 of the lever A, whereby theopening red A is depressed which is suspended a portion thereof drawn to from the rocking arms A and A mounted onpins A and A In the descent of the opening red A the stop levers G of the hereinafter described gripper 2 are released,

so that all the grippers 2 and2 which are situated at the time under th e opening rod A are opened so that they release the respective sheet.

The'lever 10 also serves through the medium of asecond rod B tovmove the grip-.. per-clos ng curve B which is carried by the rocking arm B 'fulcrumed on the pin A,

i and bythe bell crank lever B? fulcrumed on the pin B By this meansthe, described ro- V tation'of the cam disk t at the same time depresses-the opening red A and raises the I V makes a downward oscillation and compels Fig, 17 illustratesa particular construe the sheet to fall quickly on to the sorting The laying-off of the sheets thatare without fault is controlled by the cam disk H l which is mounted on the revolving shaft W and which actuates the roller lever'H that is fulcrumed on the pin H By means of a bell crank lever J mounted on the shaft J a rod J and the opening rod J suspended fromthe rocking arms J J*, are shifted,

On the shaft J there is also mounted the toothed segment; it is actuated by means of a toothed segment arm G which-is pivoted v The grippers 2, 2 consist of two movable and G (Figs. 68). The

on the pin Thelower gripper plate which is likewise'pivoted'on the pin G is connected by a connectingrodGi t'othe seg' ment arm G in such a manner that the movement of the latter will cause the two" gripper plates to make opposite'movements The moving of the segment .arm and the closing of the gripper is produced by the" depression ofthe roller pin G whenlits rol.ler G rolls over the closing curve 3*. p Inthe descent'of theroller pin (l the com-1 pression spring G is compressed until the arrestinglever G is caused by the spring G to arrest the segment lever G.

The

opening; of the grippers is effected by the opening rods A and J 6 moving down on to the free end of the arresting lever G until its nose releases the segment lever G By this means the compression springG comes; into operation and presses the upper gripper Y plate .G infthe upward direction,. and the lower gripper. plate G in the downward di rection. through the medium of the link G The gripper casing is jointed to the links of messes the chain l9, 1". and carries guide rollers G? by means; of which it bears upon the guideslc, I

In order tojwork. the machi ne economically, a revolvinggtransverse cutter is em-. ployed, so constructed that when a fault is found lll tlle paper webj atthe commenceme'ntof the sheetto be severed, only the first portion, namely 1 that which contains thesaid fault, of the sheet is cutofi' and conveyed to.

tllC WELStQlR-HLP. This newtransverse cut-. ter which is illustrated onalarger scale, in Figs. {l and';5, is so constructedthat faulty sheets. as stated "can be' severed from the paperw'eb after only a half revolution of the transverse cutter, 7 s0. that only half sheets go to waste.

The transverse cutter which is caused to cut prematurely orin halfthe usual time, by means ofthehand lever l,'may work, at the sametime as the :striker Q pivoted on a pin m on the rod m, which lever is fulcrumed on the pin D then the lifting of therod m will cause the otherend oi? the said lever to movedown, whereb the roller lever E is caused by the springs to come in'contactwith-the cam disk I: which is mounted onthe shaft Wa Theshafts W, and the'aforesaid shaft W have equal numbers of revolutions. To the other end of the roller lever B there is pivoted a rod.

E Whichisguide'd in the bearingE and carries a driving tooth E which engages with the ratchet teeth or a cam disk E (Figs. Land 5). The cam d sk revolves on the; shaft E.

The transverse cutter consists ofjtwo knives' M' and M mounted on twoarmsj ar ranged 1809 apart; The arms carrying the kniveshave an oval bore for thepurpose of 5 enabling the arms tobe shifted transverseely horizontally across the cuittershiifttl Feather keys serve to guideand actuatethese' arms, On

the bearing lVll f there isarranged ja}forked" rf lli. f l r l 'ed. il-the pin-1M9; h lever engages mean I of its fork the re vingt ns fse ter. .-h 1. 1 and? I it carries atitsotherenda roller M7 thatienb0 g ses in h cu ve f h.,c 11n skY I At each pwa d I e emie tz 0f the d E the paper web, and conveyed to' the wasteiheap After the initial cut the knife M? willno'w',

continne to cut only at eaeh jcomplete revofen 10f th c t e h ft t ,.1 he.;0q-.

currencejof .a faulty inthe sheet, the,

.good sheets.

and the opener A If for instance a lever D is,

4 s. mp gye lsim thehjaheve scribed manner to sever ,,by. means of the knife M a half sheet as-wasteand to throw. it out, whereupon the knife MQwflI continue to cut. great advantage of giving abetter yield of In order that the instant of closing the grippers may be varied in view ofthechang ing of the size of sheet that is to be. cut, and yet the cutting of thesheet and the closing of the grippers shall take place at the same or approximately the same; times, the gripper-closingcurve B is made adjustable. In

Fig. 5 the, horizontally adjustable gripperthe constructional example illustrated in.

closing curve B, isfor this purpose suspend? ed only indirectly fromtheactuating arms B and B To these, arms there-is directly pivoted a. railB carrying a bar B". The

gripper-closing curve B is. .mounted movably on this bar and can be fixed in any p0 sition of adjustment onsaid bar by means of a screw orother clamping device. According. as'the grippervclosing curve B is ,moved to the right or to the left on the bar or later moment.

A further mechanism for varying the time of opening and closingthe grippers. within wide. limits is illustrated in Figs. 911, in

The apparatus hastherefore the f I B, the grippers 2,- 2'?.are closedat an earlierits application to, another system of. grippersa The gripper-closingmechanism. con-.

sists ota length of jointed chain-23 passing over the chain wheels 25 and 27. To the ends ofthe chain there is. attached a steel ribbon24 which passes overa pulley 26,so

tute a self-contained body. The chainlinks are of u-shapeand of such nature that the outer connecting .members. of eachv link of that the chain and the steel ribbonconstithe chain, are arranged in aplane surface, The gripper chains lfand 1 which travel describedmechanism is located within this closed gripper chain. In addition, to thepul- .ley s 3 there is also. provided .anarc-shaped gripper opening section. .15 insuchga manner v in travelingszoverwthe gripper opening sec, tion 15, will bear against the latter: andkeep in. this. arrangement, pass around thepulleys 3, and the hereinbefore that the adj ustinglevers .21 for each grippBr,-.

the grippersopen. The adjusting levers 21.

pass from the. extended. limb 15-of the gripper-opening section to the chain 23, and bear. then upon the closed portion ofthe U-shaped links. of thischain. only when the adjusting ilevers. 21 have. moved. :away from o the last of. thelinks of the. chain 23, are .the.'.

grippersclosed by the actionof a compresr sion spring contained 1n the. gripper casing,

said. spring acting upon. the sliding meme,

"jber, 19 which presse'sIthe-gripperplates 16. I and 17 against ,eachother. A rail 28 behind the limbs of the chain .23 serves totsupport the san e. New if the clgsing of 1 the; grip;

sired intermediate spacebeing left;

pers is to take place sooner-or later, then by merely rotating the axle 29 around which with a square portion upon which a crank I handle is placed for effecting the ad ustment.

The provision of" a running-up chain of this kind allows of shifting the closing of the grippers Within very wide limits and with a compact construction. If compactness is not necessary,then such a shifting of the time of the closing of thegrippers maybe effected by adding straight extension pleces of various lengths to the free limb 15 of the gripper opening. section 15.

An adjustable gripperclosing curve of the 'kind hereinbefore described assumes its full constructional importance when the speed of the grippers 18 made variable. Namely, if it is requ1red to increase or 'di minish the space between the successive sheets, then the gripper speed will have to undergo a corresponding variationin order that each time a sheet has been severed, the

conveying away of the same shall take place with suflicient rapidity to allow of the dechange in the gripper speed renders it also sure of the first grippers and this purpose is served more particularly by the adjustabili-ty ofthe gripper-closing curve For the purpose of varylng the gripper speed the most various devices may be employed. A

constructional example is illustrated in Figs. 12-14. s j

In this arrangement the chain wheels 3 around which pass'the gripper chains 1 and 1 are drivenjby a change wheel gear The change wheels 31 are constructed in the ,known' manner as stepped toothed wheels, 'and1the chain wheels 32: are correspondingly con structed. By means ef-a hand lever-:33 one i or the other gear can be thrown into operation. .In: the example shown the coupling contained in the casing 80.

sleeve 47 which is shifted by the lever 33,

is provided with a feather 48 on'the free, end

of which there is a drivilignose 49; The feather engages 1n a corresponding recess in the axle on which the change. wheels 32 are freely rotatable.

By means of the driving nose illone or the other ofthe change wheels are carried around by the revolving shaft acco ding to the position of the lever '33. V i i I I, V For the present invention it is immaterial" what particularconstruction, is chosen for these change wheel gears and their operaby' employing'a triction'wheel gear of known type for varying the speed.

, sheets.

. fore described construction of the adjustable gripper-closing curve, the latter be so'ad- Yver'se cutter, the sheets will be conveyed away without spaces between them, if at the same time the'speed of the grippers is so adjusted that it corresponds to the speed of the unwinding paper'web But ifon the contrary the closing of the grippers takes place only at approximately the same time 7 as-the cutting'of the cutters, and the grippers have a somewhat greater speed than the unwinding paper web, then the desired spaces willbe left between the successive Apartfrom thenormal speed of inspection, the output'of an apparatus for sorting out faulty sheets-of the kind described,depends only on they speed of unwinding of the paper web. i

' The greatest output will be obtained 1 placing the point of inspection in front of the transverse cutter, asset forth in the de scribed constructional example-because at paper web maybe increased up to the highest: permissible speed of inspection byjthe inspector. v I I If for the purpose ofsaving space or for this'point the speedof unwinding; of the V other reasons, it is desired to place the point of inspection behind'the transverse cutter, that is to say, if it is desired to place -.itabove the gripper path, then the arrange-- ment as shown may be employed in the case of papers which allow of the'sheets succee ding one another without inteimediate spaces between. Onthecontrary, n the case of mediate spaces between the successive sheets,

I which spaces maybe of various amounts.

This would have the result that the" plac- Thisdrawback maybe removed .bythe following; arrangement illustrated. in Figs. I and16, ior inspecting the paper sheets. ln'this arrangementfit is assumed that there is anfinspection point in front of the transverse cutter and also behind the's'ame above the gripper mechanism,this arrangement having the further advantage of enabling V the' pa 'aerfweb to be inspected from b oth sides. ,The paper" web' winds offthe roll a and is led over a; reversing roller a l *The' a V A I I first inspectionfp'oint is placedflbetween; a

t1on. ;The same purpose might be served i and a 2 The fu1'ther- .travel,of the paper.

web is thefs'ame as in' the. usual apparatus. (If, in vlew. of the fact that aninspection pomt 1's placed above thegripper mecha 110 ing of t he pointof-inspectfion over the .gripper path, will reducethe output in propor- I ,tionto the size {of the'intermediate spaces if the speed of inspection is to be normal.

' paper web, that is to say, to attain the highest permissible speed of inspection, and if it is desired-to leave at the same time intermediate spaces between the successive sheets so as to obtain suflicient time for laying-off, then the speed of the gripper mechanism must be accelerated during the period when,

the sheet is being severed from the web by the transverse cutter.

For this purpose there may be employed for instance the following, mechanism for driving the chain wheels 3.

For driving the gripper chain wheels 3 there are arranged on the driving shaft W a pair of bevel wheels 36 and 37, of which 36 is fast and 37 is loose. On the same boss as the last mentioned wheel there is ar-- ranged the driving wheel 3 by which the gripper chains are actuated. A connecting bevel wheel 39 is arranged between the two bevel wheels 36 and 37 in such a manner as to engage simultaneously with both those bevel wheels. Its bearing sleeve 38 is likewise freely rotatable on the shaft W. A roller arm 40 on the upper end of the axle of the bevel wheel 39 engages in the curve of a cam disk 41 mounted on a shaft 50 which is driven by means of toothed wheels 34, 35 from the main shaft W. By rotating the cam disk the bevel wheel 39 can be maintained in its position of rest, namely so long as the roller 40 is running in the circular arc of the curve. curved portion however the carrier of the bevel wheel 39 will be caused to rotate on the shaft W. If this rotation has the same direction as the rotation of the bevel wheel 37, this will accelerate the rotation of this wheel and consequently also the rotation of the gripper mechanism. On the return of the bevel wheel 39 into its initial position, the gripper mechanism will however assume the same speed as it had before, which may be equal to that of the paper web. By this means as each new sheet is fed, its speed of conveyance is temporarily altered at the desired moment, but this alteration is immediately canceled as soon as the sheet to be inspected has passed through the second place of inspection above the gripper path.

For the purpose of varying the intermediate spaces the hereinbefore described driving mechanism may also be constructed as shown in Fig. 17. In this arrangement the cam disk 41 does not act upon the bevel wheel 39 directly, but indirectly through the medium of an intermediately fulcrumed lever 42 carrying in an adjustable manner upon its free end a pivoted arm 43. This pivoted arm is pivoted at one end to the carrier of the bevel wheel 39 and at its other On entering the end to a sleeve 45 which is slidable along the free end of the lever 42, and can be fixed to itin any position by means of a clamping screw 46. l/Vhen the motion of the cam disk is transmitted through these intermediate members 42 and 43 to the bevel wheel 39, the travel of the bevel wheel 39 along the axle W is thereby varied according as the pivoted arm 43 is connected nearer to or farther from the center of oscillation 44 of the lever 42. The variation of the travel of the wheel 39 entails also a variation in the speed of the conveyance of the sheets and consequently a variation of the intermediate spaces between the successive sheets.

Such -a construction of the improved sheetsorting apparatus will give the greatest possible output irrespectively of the sizes of the sheets, not only as regards the number of the sheets, but also more particularly the weight of the sheets.

This improved arrangement may also be adopted for sheets that follow immediately upon one another, that is to say, where no intermediate spaces are left between the successive sheets. Nevertheless, the intermediate spaces necessary forlaying-ofi' may be retained. In any case it is possible to increase the output to a maximum in view of the sorts of paper to be treated and the sizes of sheets to be dealt with which are to be laid-off with or without intermediate spaces between the successive sheets, while retainingin both cases an unchanged speed of inspection.

The subject matter of this application was the subject of application No. 69,047, filed December 28, 1915, of which this application is a division.

What'I claim is I In a paper sorting machine, a sheet feeding apparatus for sheets cut from a moving web, grippers, flexible members for carrying the grippers, guiding means for the gripper carriers, means for varying the speed of the flexible members whereby spaces can be produced between successive sheets with the speed of the'sheet at the place of inspection equal to the unwinding speed of the paper web, said speed varying means comprising a beveled gear on the gripper driving shaft, a driven bevel wheel of said gear being mounted to rotate with the driving wheel of the drive for the flexible member on the shaft, and a trans- GEORG SPIESS. 

